In what ways is the war in Iran reshaping travel plans and patterns? What does the rise of cyberdecks say about attitudes to Big Tech and creativity? And how is AI enabling vigilante consumer and brand behavior?
Below is our May 2026 cultural signal scan: three topics on our radar this month and their impact on people. By scanning the headlines, keeping tabs on social media conversations and tuning into the zeitgeist, we connect the dots between our consumer trends and the wider world, so you can make sense of what’s happening now and what it means for you.
Key cultural and consumer trends for May 2026
- The Middle East conflict is impacting travel patterns and priorities. With 1 in 4 British consumers already delaying or avoiding international bookings due to geopolitical instability, the bigger story is the rise of reactive, last-minute decision-making and a renewed appetite for closer-to-home alternatives (source: Foresight Factory, 2026).
- Cyberdecks reveal a growing consumer appetite to opt out of Big Tech’s upgrade treadmill. The topic #cyberdeck has around 3,000 posts on TikTok and 5,000+ on Instagram, and the r/cyberDeck subreddit has 51,000 weekly visitors.
- AI-enabled trickery is being committed by both brands and consumers. While brands have long worried about AI being weaponized against consumers, an estimated 20–30% of US insurance claims now contain AI-altered or fabricated materials, signaling that consumers are increasingly turning these tools back on corporations.
1. Traveling in an age of disruption: US-Iran war “tax” hits consumers
Summer travel plans feel the strain of the Middle East conflict
Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz due to Israeli and US attacks has resulted in one of the worst global energy crises in decades. As a consequence, the travel industry (among many others) is bracing for a chaotic travel season as it grapples with rising costs and shifting consumer behavior.
In the UK, travel spending is down for the first time since 2021. Worries about the cost of living crisis, as well as travel disruptions, have prompted Britons to rein in spending. Google searches for terms such as “jet fuel shortage” and “flight cancelations” are rising, indicating heightened consumer awareness of disruption.
At the same time, travel behavior is shifting from long term planning to more reactive decision-making. Jet2, for instance, has reported an increase in last-minute bookings, as consumers wait for greater clarity before committing to plans.
Air travel in particular is severely hit
Across Europe, airlines and tour operators are adjusting to volatility and moving towards cost control amid rising jet fuel prices (up nearly 84% since the start of the conflict in February 2026). In Germany, TUI has revised down its full-year profit guidance after taking a €40 million hit linked to the conflict. The company has also reported a shift in demand away from eastern Mediterranean destinations, alongside a 7% decline in summer bookings.
Meanwhile, German airline Lufthansa is cutting 20,000 short-haul flights from its schedule to offset rising fuel costs, Irish commercial flight carrier Aer Lingus cancelled hundreds of flights from its summer schedule, and KLM canceled 160 flights in a single month. US-based Delta Air Lines and United Airlines as well as Canadian vacation airline Air Transat have followed suit, with other carriers across Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific considering similar measures.
The result is increased anxiety for consumers looking to plan trips abroad. Many are turning to airline miles and loyalty schemes, using fee-free cancelations to hoard award seats in order to hedge against potential disruption. But this, in turn, devalues miles, and airlines wise to such hoarding are introducing stricter cancelation rules in response.
Appetite for summer travel is satiated by staycations
With summer around the corner, many consumers are postponing or canceling international travel plans and choosing short-haul holidays closer to home instead.
British holiday park firms have noted that local bookings during the summer window are on the rise, and expected to grow throughout May and June, with many consumers booking closer to the holiday than ever before.
Among Indian consumers, meanwhile, who increasingly make up the bulk of international leisure travelers to Europe, the story is the same: domestic hill stations and South-east Asia countries are emerging as popular alternatives to international travel.
Some brands are also taking a Cool to Be Kind approach, actively helping consumers navigate a summer of high costs as well as the desire for travel experiences. Brittany Ferries, for instance, made a public pledge of no price hikes, no cancelations and a guaranteed supply of maritime fuel for the entire year. Similarly, the St Moritz hotel in Cornwall, UK is encouraging consumers to visit by car despite rising fuel prices by offering to cover 15% of their fuel bill.
Sustainable travel faces a moment of opportunity
Rising jet fuel costs are reopening conversations around sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), which has long been positioned as the industry’s long-term solution but has struggled to scale due to high costs and limited supply.
At the same time, there is growing openness toward lower-carbon and fuel-independent modes of travel, particularly rail. For short-haul journeys, trains offer a more stable and predictable alternative at a time when flights are increasingly subject to delays, cancelations and price volatility.
However, this shift is constrained by infrastructure realities. Across Europe, fragmented rail networks and outdated booking systems make cross-border train travel unnecessarily complex. Recent analysis found that nearly half of the continent’s busiest flight routes are still difficult, or in some cases impossible to replicate by train, due to a “stone age system of booking rail tickets”.
Why it matters
- Despite rising costs and increased chaos, consumers continue to prioritize travel. This exemplifies our consumer trend Experience Seekers, which describes how consumers view experiences as essential spend. The dual desire of Maximizing Value while seeking fun getaways energizes our consumer trend Local Allure: nearby destinations are becoming more popular in an increasingly unpredictable environment. This may, in turn, have a cascading effect on local economies and small businesses.
- For brands, the opportunity lies in helping consumers navigate this tension. As travel becomes more complex, brands that position themselves as partners and take a Cool to Be Kind approach will stand out. This could mean offering flexible booking options, price guarantees or incentives that reduce cost pressures.
- The current disruption also creates renewed interest in sustainability, a topic that in recent years has been perceived as losing its luster somewhat. Rising fuel costs and supply instability are strengthening the case for alternative models such as rail travel and sustainable aviation fuel. This is at the core of our trend Simply Sustainable, which explores how consumers want eco-behaviors and choices to be as effortless and cost-effective as possible.
2. Cyberdecks: Bringing DIY personalization to physical tech
Vibe-coding, but in the physical world
When it comes to technology news, AI consistently grabs headlines as it reshapes software and how consumers and brands operate in digital spaces. But there’s a parallel shift happening in physical technology, driven by Gen Z and taking inspiration from both futuristic and retro aesthetics. Enter: the cyberdeck.
Tinkering away from the stronghold of Big Tech
Beyond the creative appeal, consumers in May 2026 also tout the fact that cyberdecks allow them to sidestep the overreach of Big Tech by taking technology into their own hands. Indeed, the term “cyberdeck” has its roots in solarpunk and cyberpunk, scientific subgenres that typically critique capitalism and corporate domination. Most cyberdecks are powered by single-board systems such as Raspberry Pi – open, hackable hardware that puts the user firmly in control of what their device does and doesn’t do.
For many, this is a conscious pushback. Modern consumer tech has become synonymous with what has been come to be known as “enshittification” – the gradual degradation of products through bloatware (pre-installed software that saps energy and storage), paywalled features and planned obsolescence designed to keep users on an endless upgrade cycle. People building cyberdecks opt out of that cycle. Moreover, at a time when global inequality has reached new extremes, there’s a growing appetite among some consumers to stop funneling money in tech billionaires’ direction.
There’s a sustainability dimension here too. Cyberdecks are typically built from repurposed or thrifted components, giving a second life to hardware that might otherwise contribute to the world’s mounting e-waste problem. Where mass-produced tech is built to be replaced, a cyberdeck is built to last and be tinkered with.
Capturing a spirit of whimsy
It’s notable, however, that the popularity of cyberdecks isn’t exclusively connected to the desire for unbridled creativity and autonomy. “Cyberdeck for sale” is another rising query on Google, signaling that their appeal is also more broadly aesthetic – a look and a feeling that consumers want to buy into, even if they’re not building it themselves.
Cyberdecks can be seen as yet another way that consumers are embracing a feeling of “whimsy”. Across design, fashion, and now tech, there’s a growing appetite for imaginative, otherworldly, playful aesthetics. Cyberdecks – with their exposed components and retro-futuristic energy – fit neatly into a wider mood that also encompasses maximalist interiors, kidulting and the resurgence of craft. In an era of AI-generated everything and algorithmically optimized design, there’s something radical about an object that is visibly, joyfully, the product of an individual human’s hands and imagination.
Why it matters
- There are a number of Foresight Factory trends at play here. Creating cyberdecks as a unique expression of personal tastes and vibes is a manifestation of Unapologetically Me. Reveling in the physical art of building and crafting is an example of Tactile and Tangible. And thrifting disparate parts rather than buying new exemplifies how consumers are engaging in the War on Waste.
- For brands, the opportunity is to give consumers more agency over the shape and aesthetics of the products they use. This might mean releasing modular components that are explicitly designed to be mixed and matched or inviting customers to co-create and co-design with you. For more on the consumer desire to have a more active role in shaping products, read our consumer trend Stakeholder Customer.
3. Mythos, micro-fraud and shallowfakes: AI threats both large and small
Mythos reignites fears about AI taking over
AI giant Anthropic has generated plenty of publicity around its new model Claude Mythos by claiming that it is too dangerous to release to the general public. Designed to bolster defenses against hacking in common tech applications, Mythos has apparently already identified thousands of major vulnerabilities in “every major operating system and web browser.”
Experts have warned that, in the wrong hands, Mythos can identify and exploit vulnerabilities faster than companies can repair them. The potential threat to traditional firms even led to a slump in US software stocks when the product was unveiled in April. While Mythos is not being released to the wider public, some companies are being given controlled access. These include Apple, Amazon and Microsoft, with a number of British banks also granted access in late April. Politicians and business leaders from around the world have expressed their concern about the potential risks posed by the new technology, though legislation to limit AI’s use must be balanced with the potential economic benefits it brings.
Meanwhile, consumers are using AI to dupe businesses in smaller ways
Much has been said about AI’s ability to dupe consumers into believing misinformation, in the form of deepfakes and bad actors on the internet creating plausible AI-generated trickery. Now the tables are turning as tech-savvy consumers use AI to dupe companies and brands through micro-fraud. So-called “shallowfakes” are simple, lightly manipulated images that can be easily created using AI tools. Consumers are using these to obtain refunds from unsuspecting companies. For instance, photos of food deliveries can be altered to show an uncooked burger. This will be accepted by the delivery company’s algorithm and a refund issued automatically.
Insurance claims are another area where consumers are using AI to dupe and defraud companies. One estimate in the US suggests that 20-30% of insurance claims include altered images, fabricated documents or synthetic medical reports, while insurer Allianz has identified a 300% growth in the use of AI to doctor claim-related materials.
Verification measures try to keep up with technological developments
As a result of all this, tech companies must work harder to develop ways to offer verification tools that help individuals and businesses sort fact from fiction. For instance, dating app Tinder and video calling service Zoom are both adopting iris-scanning technology to help users prove they are human, while engineers at ETH Zurich have designed a camera that physically stamps a cryptographic seal of authenticity onto every photo or video it takes.
Why it matters
- These developments show that consumer and market trust continues to be impacted by AI. Whether it is a large-scale fear that AI is going to take over the world, or a nagging feeling that we are at greater risk of being scammed, AI generates additional Tech Anxiety. This in turn leads to the Pursuit of Authenticity, as end users seek to verify what is real and what is fake. Brands have a role to reassure consumers and give them the tools necessary to separate fact from fiction.
- On the other hand, it’s notable that some consumers are turning AI to their advantage to hoodwink corporations. It may be that in a world where costs are skyrocketing and corporations profit, shoppers see this as justified rule breaking, as we explore in Movable Morality. As well as beefing up their fake-detection capabilities, brands should lead by example and act with integrity and fairness, as well as pointing out to consumers that fraud will lead to higher prices for all.
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These May 2026 cultural signals and latest consumer trends are part of a longer report published on Collision, our dynamic trends intelligence platform. Members get access to these consumer trends reports at the beginning of every month, so they always have a finger on the pulse of latest shifts in consumers and cultural trends. If you’re interested in learning more about Collision and how the platform can make a difference to your business, get in touch today.
